HPN Comments on the FHA Homeowners Armed with Knowledge (HAWK) for New Homebuyers Pilot Program

Jul 31, 2014

Summary

HPN commends the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) proposed new HAWK pilot program. TheHAWK pilot represents a significant step forward by HUD and FHA in embracing the importance high-quality homebuyer education and counseling as a critical bridge to sustainable homeownership for newand underserved potential homeowners. A well-designed and implemented program could have atremendous impact on the residential mortgage industry by demonstrating the value proposition forhomebuyer education and counseling as a credit enhancer for first-time homebuyers, and creating astrong precedent for other commercial mortgage products to embed access to counseling, consumeradvice, and homebuyer education throughout the life of the loan. The HAWK pilot could also contributeto driving an ongoing transformation in the counseling industry toward scaled, professional, and highcapacity organizations that provide a broad range of services to current and prospective homebuyers,paid for by all beneficiaries of those services. We coined the phrase “homeownership stewards” todescribe the role of nonprofit social enterprises with the mission-based commitment to their customersand financially sustainable models that will allow these organizations to serve as trusted advisors toconsumers across the entire homeownership experience – available to give advice and support frompre-purchase to closing to refinancing and sale, there to support consumers should they encounterdifficulties paying the mortgage.